DFW: MMA won't get to next level without the UFC

UFC President Dana White is a wealthy man - he never has to work another day in his life if he doesn't want to.

"Every day, when I get out of bed in the morning and my big toe hits the floor, there’s one thing that’s guaranteed: bad s--- is going to happen," says White. "It doesn’t matter if it’s Saturday, Sunday, Christmas, Chanukah or f------ Easter, bad s---could happen, man. That’s the one guarantee I have in my life."

The past few weeks have been worse than usual, which generates an obvious question: You ever think of walking away?

"The past month has been a [expletive]," White told MMAjunkie.com. "Canceling our first event and then all the stuff going on in Brazil. But I don't ever think about walking away.

"The way that I look at this thing is I made a commitment, and I'm committed to this. I know what we can do and the things that we're working on – and this might sound f------ egotistical as hell, but it's what I believe – I believe that if I walk away from this thing, I believe it won't happen. I love this s---."

"Over the last year, we've had some issues in this transition to FOX. There were some things that I didn't see. There were some things I wanted to try like 'The Ultimate Fighter: Live' and some other things that we did. But now we're catching our stride with FOX. We're figuring out all the s--- we did wrong and making things better. Everything is awesome. Everything couldn't be going better.

"It seems like every day when you turn on the computer and look at it, it's like the doom and gloom. 'The UFC is a fad,' and all this other stuff with all these dumb f---- that don't even know what's really going on inside, what the plans are and what we've got teed up."

"We're going to shock the world again in the next two years. When you see these other organizations pop up, they basically copy everything that we do. Now the talk is that Bellator is going to do a reality show. Wonder what that reality show is going to look like and what it's going to be like? Because they have so much f------ fantastic original programming on Spike TV. I can just imagine what they came up with. But they're going to be going in one direction, the copy-the-UFC direction, and then we're shaking s--- up. We're going to change how everything works again in the next two years.

" I'm telling you right here today, wait until you see what we do in the next five years. And I think that I would be pussing out and f----- everybody – I think that I would be screwing a lot of people if I walked away. It would be a really selfish move, and I don't think I could do it anyway. I don't want to.

"I like what I do. I like what we do. I like what we're building. I like what we've created. The day is going to come when it's time for me to walk away. When that day comes, hopefully somebody else will jump in here that is willing to do what I've done and work as hard as I have to keep going and take it to the next level."

"If I die tomorrow, I don't care, and I mean that from the bottom of my heart. My kids are going to be all right. They're going to do good. They're going to do just fine. But this is what I do. I'm here for however long.

"There's still a lot to be done. It's probably the most egotistical thing you'll ever hear me say, but I honestly believe it won't happen without me. If anything ever happened to Lorenzo, too, it would be devastating to the business. It would be devastating to the entire industry – not just the UFC.

"Once we get it to a certain level, anybody can run it then. Then you get people in and anybody can do it. But I just fear that without us, people won't push and go to that next level. People get comfortable. 'We don't need f------ MMA in Turkey. There's places in the world where they'd be like, 'Who cares?' We care. We want it everywhere."

Note: The original title of this piece was "White: MMA won't get to next level without me." The title was innacurate, and did not reflect accurately the comments made. The UG Blog apologizes for the error, with sincerity.

Yes, Dana, the UFC wouldn't exist without the guy who was against the very thing that saved it.....or the same guy who wants to fleece people out of their money with weak cards, then acts like a child when it doesn't happen.

I respect Dana and all but i think that it is more likely that the UFC reached the level it is at now in spite of Dana instead of it reaching there because of him. Wasn't he opposed to the idea of The Ultimate Fighter show in the first place?

i hate when these websites put douchey fucking quotes from everyone and take what was said totally out of context. i get that u need hits and traffic and i never complain but give me a fuckin break!! this is not how i said it or what i meant and all the reporters that were there know it. what i said was we have a game plan for the next 5 years and work CRAZY fucking hard to get what needs to be done, done! once that shit gets done then who cares who runs it. i know we will do everything in our power to make it happen. we are commited to building this sport. so the UG puts up the cockiest lookin pic of me up and says i say 'mma won't get to the next level without me" FUCKIN BS!

dfw jr - i hate when these websites put douchey fucking quotes from everyone and take what was said totally out of context. i get that u need hits and traffic and i never complain but give me a fuckin break!! this is not how i said it or what i meant and all the reporters that were there know it. what i said was we have a game plan for the next 5 years and work CRAZY fucking hard to get what needs to be done, done! once that shit gets done then who cares who runs it. i know we will do everything in our power to make it happen. we are commited to building this sport. so the UG puts up the cockiest lookin pic of me up and says i say 'mma won't get to the next level without me" FUCKIN BS!

Agreed and no need to explain Dana. Only morons believe these bullshit MMA media outlets.